Hack001
by MeltingMetal315
Summary: The world runs completely on the electronics and all life depends on the monopoly of The Company. The Joneses are two teen tech proteges who spend their time running a small-town tech repair shop. However, the boys secretly hack The Company and uncover dirty secrets, leading a cyber revolution via forums. Company truths also bring upon family truths and bonds will be tested.
1. Prologue

****_((AN: This is my somewhat abandoned nanowirmo project. I want to finish it at some point, but I don't know when that will be. There won't be regular updates for this for a while, if ever. Any updates will probably be sporadic, sorry! Also a quick note the __**00101...**__ is a divider. I'm not sure how formatting will go on here, haven't uploading anythingg here in a while, but I hope I don't any disappearing characters...  
This might get bumped up to M._

_There may or may not be a little USUK and/or incestuous AmeCan later on))_

**P**

The soft glow from the full moon streamed through the single window in the office room. The natural light made no difference, however, as the walls were lined in machines with an array of luminescent switches, dials, and buttons. Every here and there, a panel would be different from those around it, displaying a bright monitor screen scrolling past the codes it processed.

One man sat in a rolling chair, moving swiftly from one screen to the next, turning appropriate dials and slamming the correct buttons and switches when their turn came. His work seemed frantic from afar, but if you were to get a close look and actually stop to examine that glint in the man's eyes, you would know that this man was at peace. You would find it strange that the whole situation of being surrounded by machines and artificial intelligence could be comforting to someone.

But you must keep in mind that this someone is a lone man in his office during the late hours of night. You must know that this man has not left his office for three days. This man's eyes are bloodshot and his clothes wreck, but yet he pushes on. He pushes on for a greater cause, but mostly to save his soul. For his sanity, he is devout to his research and his life's work. The world is fast paced and he must stay at the edge of discovery for his own sake and the sake of his people.

Yet who exactly were his people?

If someone were to ask of his lovely wife, a woman who was just as talented with a computer as he was, if not more, he wouldn't really know what to say. For, along with her similar advanced expertise came a similar social ineptness. Although they were married, it was obvious that they had both fallen in love with their computers.

If someone were to ask of his children, he would be quite at a loss. In the rare occasion that the man was at home, he didn't do so much as glance at the infant and toddler. Nonetheless, he kept up pictures pinned up around the office where they wouldn't cover any vents or switches or anything.

But despite popular belief, everything the man did were for the people in those pictures. The pictures he barely glanced at. His life's work, his plans, his research, all for those he loved. No one would ever know but he was content with that.

Content as long as he could sit with his machines and the artificial intelligence.

**0110100001100001011000110110 1011_**

Burning. His knees were burning, searing in pain. Red hot streams flowed down small shins and stained the dirt beneath the fallen figure. Flares of pain sparking throughout the body. But then the pain relocated, worse than the others. Gasps. Air! The chest began to burn with a different heat. His face began to turn blue as the passage closed in on itself. Smaller and smaller. The other pain went unnoticed as the burn for air was heavier than all else.

Everything froze and something was shoved into a small mouth. His nose was pinched and he was forced to swallow the bitter spray that numbed his mouth. There was a loving pat on his back before the shouting began. The screams of terror and pain. The sounds of flesh impacting other flesh. All the commotion subsided soon, however, before a warmth encased itself around the young boy's body.

"Oh, Mattie, what did you get yourself into this time?"

Matthew smiled and shrugged, looking up to the person who had saved him, the person who had vowed to always protect him.

"Just the usual, Alfie," Matthew sighed, "I just don't like to play like the other boys do." Alfred scoffed at this and gave his brother an unbelieving glare. He reached to examine Matthew's left wrist. Alfred was surprised when the younger boy allowed him. The boy pressed a button on the side of Matthew's wristband that activated a holographic screen to display above the band.

Small fingers skillfully picked at specific buttons, typing in complex commands. Soon enough, the screen expanded to show an intricate code. It took all but two second for Alfred to examine the numbers and commands to realize what the code was for. He rolled his eyes and playfully flicked his brother's ear.

"Mattie, you dumbie, you _were _trying to mess with their tech! I know you like to test run on live subjects, but didja _have _to pick the ones who would beat you up?"

Matthew smirked and shrugged again. He closed the command history and brought up a different program. He motioned for his older brother to watch as he pressed virtual buttons vaguely labeled with colored shapes.

Alfred jumped when a surprised shout erupted from the general area of where the gang of boys had run off to. Matthew was smirking wickedly. Before Alfred could ask what his younger brother had done, Matthew pointed in the direction of the sidewalk, where one of the boys' wristbands was constantly transfiguring into various half structures before reverting back to a simple band and restarting. Another began to blast Matthew's favorite song, to which Matthew laughed.

Alfred only sighed and grabbed his brother's arm to drag him back to the house. Despite his frustration with Matthew's careless antics, Alfred was quite proud of his younger brother. He himself hadn't been able to figure out codes of that caliber until just six months ago. His brother was quickly closing the one year advantage that Alfred was born with. But Alfred saw this is a god thing for his brother, not as a threat to himself. Besides, what other six year old could control his wristband as well as Alfred?

"Well, are you okay, Mattie? They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"

"No, I'm alright, Alfie. They weren't very strong. Thanks for getting me."

"Always," Alfred replied, grasping and squeezing his brother's hand. "Come on now, Mattie, let's get you cleaned up before Mom finds out anything."

"Okay, Alfie," Matthew surrendered. A comfortable silence surrounded the boys but Matthew felt the urge to say something.

"Hey Alfie?"

"Yeah, Matt?" Alfred glanced at his brother, worry shining in his cerulean eyes.

"Do you think would Dad would be proud of us? The computer stuff, I mean, not the part where we mess with the other kids."

Alfred sighed and subconsciously rubbed circles on his brother's hand. He thought in silence for a few moment before turning to the smaller boy.

"Mattie, does it really matter? I mean, I'm sure he would be, but he's gone. And he's never ever going to come back. You know what Momma says. He fell in love with his computers instead of us. And then his computer led him away from people and now he's off crazy and alone by himself. He's not really our dad, Mattie. He never raised us or whatever. Momma's here to take care of us and I'm here to protect you. And that's all you need to worry about. Now come on, let's not talk about this anymore. I don't want to. Besides, I have to do homework. Lemme tell you, you will not enjoy real school as much as pre-school."

Matthew only shook his head as Alfred so purposefully changed the subject with his rambles. One day he would earn his right to know. One day.

**0110100001100001011000110110 1011_**

Falling. It's dark and you're falling. You can't see anything but you can feel the wind rushing up around you and that heavy pit you get in your stomach when gravity is pulling you back down to where you belong. You can feel heat beneath you and you begin to fear the possibility of burning. But suddenly, everything goes freezing cold. Just like sharp ice. Just like those heartless creations. That must be it. You reach your hand out to touch the walls of the shoot that you're descending down. Cool metal, the familiar smooth sheet that you favor and know instantly. With a sigh, you allow yourself to fall, hoping that the ground is near. You're nearly right, as you suddenly become snagged in wire.

You untangle yourself from the wires. There's a low glow emitted from across the room. It's coming from a small vent, but you're sure that you can squeeze in at your size. The glow is the familiar blue that a computer monitor give off and naturally, you're curious to see it. Carefully, you follow the wires, keeping your balance. The closer you get to the light, the brighter it seems to get. You continue your curious journey, almost to the light. You reach for it but then everything shatter and all changes around you just before your fingertips were able touch the metal grate shielding the secret computer from you.

The new room is much smaller, but candles surround the circular room. The aroma of wax and maple fill the room. The candles smell sweet, like you mother's maple syrup that she makes on Sunday mornings. The type that Alfred would try to chug down with his milk. The candles give the dim room an earthy glow, one that you find comforting and warm, but not particularly relaxing. You can never be relaxed without the hum of fans and the cool warmth given off by a computer. You never really feel like a room is lit without the glow of a screen. After much examination of the room for a circuit breaker or a switch somewhere, you note that there's nothing else but a throne adorned with precious jewels and silk. You go to sit in it but just before you make it to the platform it rests on, you're jerked out of the images completely.

Matthew sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He shook his head, trying to make sense of the images. He had had that dream several times the past year and he had never gotten any farther than the throne room. He subconsciously felt for his wristband for reassurance. The cool ridges where different sheets met the others felt familiar. He knew its feel well. A glance out the window showed that it was still dark out. He searched his pillows for his stuffed polar bear, grasping it and pulling it close before returning to his slumber.


	2. Chapter 1

****_((AN: Sorry, there's some weird formatting issues that carried over when I copy-pasted it... The first half doesn't have indents but the second half does but oh well :P ))_

**1**

The corners of Matthew's lips pulled into a wicked smile as the screen in front of him flashed to a black screen, laying out rows of script. Shining midnight blue eyes scanned the words and numbers splaying out in front of him. To most, the lines of text were nonsense, but to Matthew, they opened up an entire new world.

"Alfred! Come over here, I think I've got something. Something good!" Matthew leaned back in his chair as the door opened, letting in a single stream of light. The boy turned away from the burning light, watching the shadow that his brother left on the floor, instead.

"Matt, I swear to god, if you hacked into the xbox servers again..." Alfred sighed, wiping his brow. One look at his brother's smug grin had him rolling his eyes. He casually glanced over at the computer screen and began to read what was displayed on the screen. The boredom he displayed on his face quickly dissolved as he continued to read. His eyes grew wide in surprise and disbelief. He smiled widely and looked back to Matthew.

"Matthew, how the hell did you get in here?" Alfred patted his brother proudly on the back before returning to read.

"It was bit more complicated than I expected. Not to mention that unscrambler that took _days_. Mendax isn't Mendax for nothing. But these are just employee files. I couldn't get into the research files, those are much more guarded and I might trigger a tracking alarm. But I think that from this we can at least, well, you know."

At this, Alfred only nodded grimly. He understood what Matthew's intentions were. The Mendax Company, refferred to as The Company colloquially, was the company that creted and ran most of the technology that the world relied on. Most everyday things depended on machines, a very large majority of which had the Mendax name on it. The Company ruled the technological industry and indirectly, the entire world. The amount of products that Mendax managed were so great that if The Company were to go out for one second, it cost the entire world's economy. Both brothers had a goal of infiltrating Mendax's files, but both had completely different reasons as to why. He knew he should just brush it off, but the nagging voice in his head forced him to do otherwise.

"Mattie, we've talked about this."

"I know, Al, but this is important to me. I want to know. I have to know. He's our _father,_ Alfred. Maybe you want nothing to do with him, but I want to know _why_."

"Why what, Matthew? Why he was a douchebag with a circuit board in place of a heart?"

"See, Alfred? Stop being so bitter. You're the momma's boy in the world. Yeah, I don't particularly like this guy much, either, but don't you want to know why he left? What was so great about computers that he didn't want to be around, huh?"

Alfred frowned. How could Matthew talk like this?

"No, I don't want to know why we weren't good enough for him. Thanks, but I'm good as I am."

"I'm sorry, the momma's boy comment was too much." Matthew sighed and got up, beginning to pace the room out of nervous habit.

"Yeah, just a bit," Alfred sat in the chair and began to spin in it as he watched Matthew pace. "But still, Mom's dead, Matt. We should just honor her wishes and not poke into info about our father. Come on, don't you want to avenge her death? There's other files on other people that will be more useful than whatever Mendax has on George Jones from ten years ago.

"Are you still wrapped up in seeking revenge for Mom's death? She was a hormone researcher, what do you expect? Being around that stuff all day for 10 hours a day can do that to you. Not to mention all her side research. It wasn't Mendax's fault. Mom died doing what she loved."

"So you're also saying that our dad left so he could do what he loved."

"No, Al, he didn't have to leave to continue his work. And I want to find out why."

Matthew rerouted himself and went back to the computer. He ran a quick word search that found and highlighted anything that mentioned "Jones." When he got over ten thousand results, however, he quit the search and narrowed it down to "George Jones."

Alfred rolled over to the opposite wall, starting up his own computer. As soon as it started up, he connected to Matthew's computer so that it displayed the same screen. He copy-pasted the loaded text before closing and pasting it into a new text document. He went straight to searching for "Alice Jones."

Both boys began to scrawl down notes on the information that lay in front of them. Matthew read of various projects that his father was assigned chief programmer for. Almost all of them involved something about the wristbands that every person in the world wore. Earlier projects involved programming them to do the basic functions, such as developing the holographic screen, coding the most basic programs, and developing a solid syncing system, things that every wristband had as a base. A bit later on, George Jones was put to program the financial system and the virtual bank, to which he apparently had some accusations of embezzlement and sabotage that seemed to be cleared a little later on. But once Matthew got to George's later project, he began to become much more interested.

The first of George's big projects was a hidden script. This meant that he was to code a program that ran automatically, without the product owner's knowledge of its running. Some were very elementary, like the time or automatic email fetch. This one, however, possessed a complex code that Matthew had never seen before. Matthew clicked the arrow to expand a new window with the completed code in it. From the first few lines, the teenager could make out that it directed a piece of hardware to do something at regular, standard intervals. From what Matthew could pick out from the next paragraph of code, the program was to scan something emitted from the wearer and adjust its intervals accordingly. After that, however, the code took on a whole new format and language that Matthew had never seen before in his life. All he could take from it was that it collected the data, sent it back to Mendax headquarters, and continued its regular intervals.

The next project that George worked on concerned another hidden program. From the description, Mathew picked out that the next program would run infinitely on anything transmitted via waves. Reading this code, he found that messages were recorded on a low frequency that would run right under the main frequency. He frowned. What could Mendax possibly want to put under all frequencies? Exiting out of the expanded code, Matthew opened up the research behind the project. He skipped to the conclusion, assuming a summary of the research essay would be there.

_Radiation is something that the human brain is bombarded with on a regular basis. Visible light waves, ultraviolet waves, radio waves, microwave waves, they're all things that surround people in every day life. However, if manipulated, extremely low frequencies (ELF) can distribute sublime messages that the average human won't be able to comprehend, but yet still hits the brain. If we can figure out how to run ELFs with regular radio waves, then there's a possibility that we can distribute sublime messages throughout the world via popular entertainment. The power of the influence of a sublime message sent via ELF over enough time can have enough of an effect to completely sway a person's beliefs. However, the subject must be given the same message over a long period of time. Regular intervals are also desirable, just as with hormone distribution, but not completely necessary. It's also probably more effective with the more exposure a person gets. Therefore, adults are more susceptible to ELF messages than children._

Matthew copy-pasted the entire research essay into a new document, saving that to his hard drive. The concept was interesting but extremely disheartening. This project, a project that his father was in charge of, could be used in many malicious ways. With the power to completely sway the opinions of people, a person could do virtually anything.

"Hey, Alfred, come take a look at this-"

"No, wait, Mattie, you'll never guess what I found out about Mom's research."

Alfred motioned the younger teen over to his side of the computer room. As Matthew began to skim over the notes that his brother had written, Alfred began to explain what he had already learned.

"Mom researched hormones, right? Well, okay, so apparently The Company has this whole conspiracy plot thing or whatever and it, like, wants to control everyone, so it developed hormones that would make people feel this way or that way and some are so complex that they make you think a certain way, sometimes like, the complete opposite of what you originally thought. Mom was in charge of some of the later research projects that had to use radioactive particles in order to get some of that stuff that comes off during decay, you know, the extra electrons or whatever, and so basically, they released the hormones via wristbands, I think, and they can control people through them.

Matthew's face fell. He looked at Alfred seriously and summarized his own research, pointing out the parts where their father's research supported Alfred's conspiracy theory. He figured that the release system on the wristbands that his father first worked on probably released the hormones that their mother researched.

"You said Mom worked with radioactive particles, right?" Matthew froze as realization came to him.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, why?" Alfred continued to scribble down notes about the effects that overexposure to artificial hormones could have on its subjects.

"Well, I think that's how Mom died, then. She probably contracted cancer. Your case is now solved. I told you, she died for her research. Though, I'm not sure if you can say that she particularly supported this research," Matthew pondered on it.

"Well, _I _don't think Mom supported it. And yeah, okay, that's probably how she died, but I want to know why she was working on this kind of stuff. It's against everything she believes in. Alfred pouted, blowing his wheat-colored blond bangs out of his face. Matthew sighed, brushing his own wavy, light gold hair behind his ear.

"Alright, but I'm more concerned about what Mendax is trying to do with all the mind control stuff they've developed. Don't you think that that's a bit strange?"

Alfred bit the inside of his cheek and nodded after thinking it over. "I say we expose them. Let's get on the forums. Get people to know about this stuff," Alfred paused as something crossed his mind. "Wait, how do they get new hormones into the wristbands?"

Matthew held up a finger to silence his brother as he read over their father's last project, which he had quit, leaving it to be assigned to his partner, a man by the name of Scott Kirkland. Matthew read the mechanics, first. This program was designed to pull atoms from the air and transform them into new elements, using parts from other atoms. It seemed impossible to Matthew, but the accompanying research supported it. Reading on, Matthew found out that signals were secretly sent into wristbands, hiding behind fetches for email and money transactions. The signals contained instructions for what hormones need to be made. A physical copy of the hormone would be then be synthesized, stringing together the altered atoms into the appropriate chemical sequence. Hormones were then copied from the mother sample and released at the regular intervals of George's first project.

Matthew passed his notebook to Alfred, who read it over, nodding. Without a word, he passed it back. He slid off his wristband and then turned to Matthew.

"Alright, I think we've got some exposing to do. Start up an IP scrambler. Something extremely complex. We've got to do this so that no one suspects that it could possibly be us. Mendax controls the entire world, including the minds of the people in government and law. We'll have to do this very carefully. Oh, and I'll be needing your wristband for a while.

::::::::::::::::::::

Alice Jones died three months ago after contracting a disease that had her hospitalized and quarantined over a year ago. The issue was assumed to be a work-related problem, so Mendax payed the twins a monthly balance to support themselves. Of course, the money was very little, only about an eighth of what their mother took home, so it would only be enough to feed and maybe house them. The boys were almost made wards of the state, but appealed last minute, hacking into the government files and changing things around so that it appeared that George Jones still lived with them. After all, George hadn't divorced Alice, he just picked up and left. From there, they sold their house, leased a storefront and the above apartment, and set up a tech repair shop.

All of this, however, happened shortly after Alice was hospitalized and put under quarantine. The boys were told that their mother had a terminal disease so it meant that arrangements would be made for them as soon as possible. Alfred and Matthew both knew that being put into foster care at the ages of fifteen and sixteen weren't ideal, most likely to end in them getting split up. Alfred, an overprotective brother, would never allow it.

Both Jones boy aspired after their parents, computer geniuses and infamous hackers. However, neither were ever penalized because there was never enough evidence to lead back to them. They were clean bandits. Everyone knew that it was secretly them but no one could ever say why. Maybe it was just the way that Alfred grinned wickedly whenever the school fire alarm malfunctioned during a test, or perhaps the glint in Matthew's eyes whenever there was talk of video game severs being down again.

With the technological skills they acquired through their side hobby for the past ten plus years, along with the neighborhood favors that they did for people who had malfunctions, the Jones Brothers Tech Center became an ideal little hole-in-the-wall for people to get all their electronics fixed up quick. Otherwise, things would have to be sent to Mendax itself to be fixed, which could take weeks and three times the money that the Joneses would ever accept.

Thus started the life that Alfred and Matthew had built for themselves, surrounded only by computers and each other.

_(( AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated! :3 ))_


	3. Chapter 2

_((AN: gah, I'm kinda upset because certain parts of this story are in a special font to signify that they're chat logs or messages via some type of computer. Oh well, I don't think it'll be too hard to tell them apart, but if you can't understand it, lemme know and I'll rework it))_

**2**

**tybaltian** No information has been released on what The Company wants to happen in this election, so until there's a final word about what we're going to be brainwashed to think, we should discuss it now and keep our opinions recorded somewhere. However, you should still remember to resist listening to transmitted entertainment, especially popular programs, and keep your wristbands off until you can safely remove the hormone factory.

It's obvious that the entire aspect of communist government would be ideal in this situation. At the very least, we need a socialist in office for once. Quite frankly, there are people dying on the street, starving and who can't get health care because they can't afford insurance, let alone self-pay. Those who have excess money need to take care of those who don't have as much as them. We're all American! Americans need to take care of other Americans!

-Dante Praefortis

**mercutian **I beg to differ. Capitalism has gotten us this far and hasn't let us down yet. Yes, we are each others' kinsmen, but the poor are not the responsibility of the rich. The rich became rich for a reason. Perhaps they weren't the ones who built up their wealth, but someone built it for them. Alright, so there are some examples of people who cheated for their wealth, but there are people who work incredibly hard to go from the dirt they start out with to the gold they end up with. Not all the poor, of course, as I never generalize a group down to every individual, but a large majority of the poor are where they are because they didn't go the extra step to get ahead in life. They didn't _try. _So I don't think that those who earned their way should have to pay for those who didn't. Why would anyone ever try to be part of the wealthy when they could just take a free ride on the wealthy's money. We're not playing a country-wide game of Robin Hood.

Although, I must also remind everyone that I agree with Dante about the precautions about transmissions and wristbands. If there's one thing we ever agree on, it's shielding yourself from The Company's brainwashing.

-Damian Prudentibus

**nano** So in summary-

Socialist/Communist Pros: The poor receive health care, etc

Capitalist Pros: Those who earn their money don't have to pay for those who didn't earn money, and are where they deserve to be based on their actions

Opinions, everyone?

-Nano Dolo

_**-USER:NANO UNLOCKED THREAD TO PUBLIC RESPONSE-**_

Matthew sighed, clicking out of the now overflowing forum, budding with new instant responses. It always worked like this. Either Tybaltian or Mercutian would post a new opinion-oriented, controversial thread and then nano would summarize both arguments before opening the thread for others to post in.

The roles of Mercutian and Tybaltian had to be played very carefully. It had all been Alfred's idea, the whole controversy thing. No one knew who exactly started the Resistance Against The Company (RATC), nor the website and forums themselves.

Alfred worked under the account name "Tybaltian" with an alias of Dante Praefortis. Dante was supposed to be portrayed as a person who wanted more action, especially by means aggression. If Dante wanted something, he was quick to call for enforcement via new laws and active watch. Dante was also to be very into American Exceptionalism. He viewed America as one of the greatest civilizations of all time. He was all about American pride. However, along with a national pride came a personal pride. Dante was defensive, stubborn, and could be hostile when provoked. Matthew had come up with details of Dante's character to fit Alfred, yet hide him slightly. The younger brother picked out the certain aspects that he knew Alfred couldn't speak without, but also the ones that he knew that Alfred kept locked inside. He allowed his brother to say things in such a way that only Matthew knew, if only vaguely. Otherwise, anyone who knew Alfred personally wouldn't be able to make the connection, let alone someone who didn't know Alfred at all.

Matthew, on the contrary, worked under the username "Mercutian" with an alias of Damian Prudentibus. Damian was almost always opposing the topics that Dante brought up. As Damian, Matthew was witty, always provoking Damian into outbursts. He also liked to make puns or jokes out of amusement, to prove a point, or out of bitterness. For one, Matthew made a point to refer to Tybaltian by his alleged first name in at least every opening post. He also loved using rhetorical questions and the Socratic Method to prove his opposers wrong. Mercutian was to always spread out the blame for big problems, or at least direct blame away from whomever everyone else thought was at fault. The standpoints that Matthew loved to defend were his opinions against American Exceptionalism and that everything happened because of the results of the actions of the people they affect and those around them. Matthew had come up with his own facade, as he didn't completely trust Alfred to do him justice. As the quieter, more reserved sibling, Matthew hid a lot of his true emotions and feelings from his brother, leaving only himself to be able to choose what aspects he could release through an alias.

Originally, Alfred's controversy plan had been to create two main bloggers. One that would portray the opinions that the brothers shared and thought were best, and another who would make the opposing argument look bad. This worked well at first, as in the beginning, both Alfred and Matthew picked basic, moral-based arguments that they both agreed on. However, as they began to rifle through government structure, the boys, who sent time on different forums, exposed to different material, didn't always see eye to eye. Not only that, but Matthew had begun to realize that they were doing exactly what they were against, following in similar footsteps as their enemy. As Mendax Company would brainwash through very scientific, technical means, by the method the brothers took, they were only brainwashing those who resisted Mendax into believing in their own opinions.

Thus, Matthew pulled Alfred aside one night in the dark computer room and told him what was eating at his conscious. Abandoning their blogs and the forums for a night, they reformed their aliases and decided that they would each pick a side to defend on the forums. That way, people could see both sides and remember their own opinions, not influenced by either The Company or the blogging duo. On the rare occasion that Alfred and Matthew believed that it was important for opinions to be more concentrated on one side than the other, they would make a thread and agree on a course of action. The two most argumentative users in agreement would impact their followers far more than ridiculing each other.

The aliases made their work safe. It would take years of unscrambling for anyone to ever track down location. Neither alias fully resembled either of the brothers, either. Now, even their true opinions were hidden from public eye. People knew naught of Alfred Jones and Matthew Jones, but of Dante Praefortis and Damian Prudentibus.

Despite the fact that Alfred and Matthew were virtually unknown, everyone knew that reaching moderator status was only awarded to top commenters who reached a very high standard of words and was then approved by all of the site moderators.

Of course, the only time that this had ever happened was when Alfred and Matthew agreed to honor a user who always put in their opinion, but also showed the pros and cons of an argument. Sometimes it was just the pros of each side, or another time, just the cons. Either way, Nano worked as the mediator between anything that Tybaltian and Mercutian started. Nano was online so much that the brothers had no choice but to add him to their moderator circle, as he showed complete and pure devotion to the cause. Maybe even more so than Alfred and Matthew themselves.

But what really swayed the boys into promoting Nano was the fact that he, too, was a well-practiced hacker. He wasn't exactly on the same level as the Jones proteges, but he knew quite well what he was doing and seemed to be able to produce his own information on both Mendax and the American government at a slightly faster rate than Matthew was able to. However, getting into files seemed to be his limit. Nano never programmed anything or encoded any of his messages. In fact, he didn't do any hardcore hacking until he was teamed up with Dante and Damian, who could properly cover his tracks. Nano never analyzed any of the code he hacked, either. Anything he found, he would forward to either of the two co-moderators to analyze for themselves, instead.

Matthew still found him incredibly useful, though. He saved the boy the time it would take to hack into the system, which took a lot of meticulous, careful hours, something Matthew didn't have time for. The younger of the Jones brothers was only sixteen, enrolled as a sophomore at the local high school. Alfred had dropped out at the end of his second year in order to better support their little business so that they could survive. Matthew wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps, but Alfred would never allow it. Either way, Matthew still had to complete his sophomore year without his teachers finding a need to talk to a parent, so the boy didn't have the time that he wanted to spend on their research.

**0110100001100001011000110110 1011_**

With Alfred dropped out, he spent time working on reverse-engineering the miniature hormone factory in the wristbands. The ability to create a hormone literally out of air amazed both brothers. The fact that their own mother and father developed it astonished them even further.

His project took months on end. Matthew, at first, was rather annoyed. Before they had learned of the dark practices that Mendax led, the brothers spent most of their free time together. Alfred had a particular love for videogames that Matthew partially shared. Although, Matthew would readily admit that he much preferred hacking servers and messing with player profiles more than he enjoyed playing -and losing- the games themselves. It was easy to hack the servers and barely anyone targeted xbox, so Matthew saw it as a plane of free practice. Alfred, on the other hand, saw it as a nuisance and a silent message from his brother that he should hang out with him more.

But with Alfred's determination to figure out the wristbands, all quality brother time was gone. Matthew, in turn, forced himself to spend all his new alone time saving all of The Company's archive files to their own databases.

By the time Matthew had copied and analyzed all the archives, Alfred had figured out how the hormone factory worked and had come to the conclusion that the wristbands that he and Matthew wore since birth had been tampered with, the hormone chambers long removed. Both assumed that it was their mother's doing, an act of protection.

_((AN: I already have ten chapters of this written from nanowrimo season, but I'm updating them based on how much response I get since I'm lazy and I don't trust myself to pick like a specific day to upload on. So yeah, basically, if my phone buzzes enough times with emails that are response to this story, then I'll feel guilty and post another chapter, hehe))_


	4. Chapter 3

**3**

When Nano was first added on, both boys were a little skeptical. Neither fully trusted the new member until they set up one of their first attacks against Mendax. The operation was to occur during the release of the most realistic holographic entertainment set ever made. Holographics were a relatively new field in the world. Use of holographic technology for entertainment and personal purposes had only been around for about five years. Introducing a large version that would replace the television set was something the entire world was on edge for.

Once word had gotten out on the release, Matthew played sick for almost two weeks to stay home and help Alfred hack into The Company's newer files on what they were really going to do on the release day. This was an event that all Americans would be watching on television if they weren't already directly in the vicinity of Mendax's facility, where the release would be held.

After the first three days of descrambling passwords and working very carefully through the smallest loopholes is program code, carefully rearranging it to cover up their tracks, the brothers were able to get into the recent company notes. It took two more days with almost no sleep on either side of the computer room to find the correct files. The remainder of the first week was spent on uncoding the messages hidden in what was disguised as simple business reports.

After the first week, the Joneses were able to uncover that The Company was planning on filling the entire Mendax Center with a chemical- and hormone-rich gas that would sway the opinion on the upcoming war between the United States and Japan, the top two technological gold mines in the world. The television broadcast would be heavily laced with ELF signals that would bombard viewers with an impact within an hour as strong as regular radiation for a month.

Although Mendax dominated the technology industry in every other country, Japan held strong, keeping its own Shinjitsu Company dominant in its home turf, along with compatibility with all Mendax products. There had been a lot of tension between the two companies ever since their third competitor had been bought out by Mendax. Now with Japan claiming that the United States owed over three billion dollars to Japan from previous conflicts with trade and war, Mendax saw its opportunity to wipe out its Japanese competition through means of war. If they could get all of America against Japan, they could obliterate the island nation completely.

However, Alfred and Matthew both knew that the destruction of Japan and Shinjitsu Company would result in Mendax having actual complete power over the entire world. That said, the second week was spent planning on how to take down the signal.

Matthew was able to find out that the broadcast signal would go from the reveal room to the editing room nearby. This would probably be sent over a cable. From the editing room, the broadcast signal would be sent to multiple stations throughout the States that would in turn, send to either smaller broadcast stations or across to other nations. Disrupting the broadcast to editing would be extremely hard to do, so the best thing Matthew figured they could do would be to disrupt the signal to the main stations around the country.

There were six main, stage-one stations that would receive a direct signal from the Mendax Center. However, each was spread out across the United States, one in each main region. To knock out and disconnect each tower would cost a lot of money and planning, forcing the brothers to put trust in people they didn't actually know.

However, the Mendax Center itself wasn't too far from the Jones residence. The possibility of taking out the main Menda antennae seemed idealistic at first, until the realization of the amount of security Mendax had came up. Not to mention that Mendax had the manpower and materials to fix anything that came up. Physical damage was futile.

So, that left Matthew with only a few virtual options.

* * *

**-USER:MERCUTIAN OPENED PRIVATE CHAT WITH USER:TYBALTIAN; USER:NANO-**  
**-SECURITY SETTINGS SET TO SAFE:MAX:SCRAMBLE:IP; SAFE:MAX:ENCODE:MESSAGE-**

**mercutian** I'm not really sure what we can do to sabotage the holographics release operation _physically,_ but I've come up with some alternatives for sabotage that we can operate without leaving our desktops. Although, there are pros and cons to each and I need your opinions on what will be most effective. We'll also need to recruit a few other people to assist in terms of computer power for a few of these. Also, if either of you can think up any other sort of plan, please feel free to share.

•Create a scramble barrier around the M-Center to block and redirect signals, but then risk sending the signals bouncing around aimlessly, which could allow some signals to reach a station somewhere, even if it wasn't the intended station.

•Break into The Company's mainframe and delete random chunks of program code, thus wreaking havoc on the entire M-Center. However, this would most likely result in a worldwide shutdown, which could seriously harm the economy.

•Revert to old school methods and lead an altered distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the M-Center. Bombard the system with so many signals that it becomes overwhelmed and shuts down all signal transmissions. The M-Center won't have to restart completely, thus sparing the economy. However, this method requires a lot of computer power, which means recruiting more people than we would be comfortable with. It's also a bit outdated, but that's not that much of an issue.

Thoughts?

**tybaltian** I doubt the first method would be very effective. It also takes a bit of time to create a strong virtual barrier and we'd still have to go to the M-Center, or at least the surrounding area, to set up the barrier hardware. Deleting random pieces of mainframe is also a horrible idea. We should only use that as a last resort. We could seriously fuck up the world if we do that. Yeah, we want to take out The Company, but we don't want to take out the entire world. As for the last one, I don't like the idea of having to recruit others, especially the amount that we would need to DDoS The Company. We have to be careful about who we trust.

* * *

"Alfred, you do realize that we don't have much choice, right? We have a week before the release. What do you plan on doing? A DDoS isn't that bad. We only really need a hundred people, which won't be too hard to pick from the forums. We narrow down to the people who've been around the longest and then use our best judgement from there. There's almost a million people in the resistance. Choosing our favorite hundred isn't so bad. Then we just send out a highly secure scramble security program for them to use and then an even more guarded program that will activate a DDoS automatically.

Matthew twirled in his chair, sighing passive aggressively at his brother. What other choices did they have?

"Mattie, you have too much trust in people. These members, how do we know that they're not just spies or something? They've been exposed to Mendax's crap their whole lives. Our wristbands have been altered since we were little. We never really watched television or listened to radio until Mom was hospitalized. We're different. I don't even really trust this Nano guy, to be honest with you."

"But Alfie, we have to do something that won't cause too much destruction. We should use the barrier then, even though its less effective by a tenfold."

"Don't exaggerate your figures just to prove a point, Matthew. I think that that idea's alright, but I'll go and set up the hardware, I don't want you to get caught up in anything dangerous like that."

"Ha, Alfred, you're shitting me. If you won't let me DDoS the frikin place, you've got to at least let me set up the hardware. I'm not letting you have all the thrill!"

"Thrill? Matthew, this isn't about thrill! We're trying to prevent the obliteration of Japan. Not screwing up a company just for shits and giggles."

"Yeah, but if someone gets to do something daring, I'd like to be said person, I mean-"

_BLOOP!_

* * *

**nano** Oh, I definitely think we should DDoS the M-Center. And don't worry, Dante, I have enough resources that we won't have to recruit others. I'm sure one hundred servers will do the trick. Just send me the downloads of the appropriate DDoS systems you want to use. I say we use different types of the attack in order to further overwhelm the system. If you could just send me a maximum security scrambler, that would be much appreciated. I don't think mine are strong enough.

* * *

Matthew smirked wickedly towards the other side of the computer room. For the first time in his life, Matthew felt himself swell with the pride of making the better choice this time. Alfred only stuck out his tongue from across the room.

"I still don't really trust him."

"Alfred, he's been on the same level as us for almost a year. He's been with us since the beginning. And he really has a devotion to the cause. Not only that, but he's erasing the need for more members. Even if you don't completely agree, I do. Come on, Alfred, you have a whole country's fate in the palm of your hand."

"I thought that you were supposed to be against fate."

"I am, which is why the lives of millions depends on you," and with that, Matthew spun around to type his reply.

* * *

**mercutian** Awesome, sounds great. You're amazing, Nano. I'll be sending you a multitude of DDoS programs later tonight. I'll send you the security program now, though. Are you sure you'll be alright setting it all up?

**nano** Yes, I'll be fine. I might not be the best programmer in the world, but I can definitely handle my hardware well. And thank you, I'll be looking for it.

**tybaltian** Okay, fine, I'll trust you, Nano. We'll be watching, though. This better go through. Because I swear, if you let Shinjitsu fail then the world will go through some deep shit.

**nano** No need to get all offensive there, Dante. Though I suppose you're the one named Tybalt for a reason. Well, you can both count on me, I swear it. Just make sure I get those programs!

**mercutian** alright, will do. thanks again.

* * *

The rest of the week was spent preparing perfected DDoS programs, courtesy of Matthew. Alfred didn't want much to do with that particular project. Mostly because it relied heavily on another person. Alfred was too prideful, his craving for self-sufficiency much too strong for his own good.

Instead, Alfred worked on finding a way to denature the hormones that would be released inside the Mendax Center itself. Matthew would do something simple, like hack into the building's controls and overheat the rooms with the chambers where the hormones were kept. But no, Alfred had to get fancy and use The Company's own methods against them.  
Locked in his little lab room for three days straight, Alfred broke down the makeup of the pheromone that The Company would release into the Mendax Center. From there, he worked meticulously to recreate it from synthesizing the DNA sequence he hacked from the mainframe. Once Alfred had a sample hormone, he worked to synthesize receptors that could be released simultaneously with the hormones. If released at the same time, the hormones would attach to to the false receptors before they came into contact with any of the attendees.

The following day, Alfred wrote up a program that would hide in Mendax's system, working as a hidden program. It would use the same method of producing by altering particles in common air. Alfred's receptor gas would collect inside a few of the hormone chambers. Alfred also managed to bug a few other chambers into displaying a full status without actually filling with the hormone gas.

"I can't believe you went through all that trouble when we can just heat the whole room overnight."

"Oh, come on, Mattie, stop being so bitter, it was fun!"

"And cost a freaking fortune."

"Oh please, I think we both know that virtual embezzlement is a skill you learn when you're ten."

"Doesn't make it right."

"We're doing illegal things, anyway. Stop fighting with me for the sake of fighting with me."

"No," Matthew squinted his eyes at Alfred, "I'm fighting with you because you annoy me."

"Tch, alright, whatever you say, Matt," Alfred shook his head, pushing out of the computer room to grab a snack. Long day's work of biochemistry makes you hungry.

_(( AN: whoop, sorry for not updating in a while. I'm working on some larger writing projects whilst still trying to juggle kink meme fills. I really gotta stop doing those, they eat up all my free time :P Well, I hope to post the next chapter in a week or two, and if I don't just send me a message telling me that you're patiently awaiting the next chapter so I should stop doing random fills. Hope you liked the chapter! Reviews are much appreciated! ))_


	5. Chapter 4

(this chapter is unedited)

**4**

**nano** Alright, all my servers have the appropriate DDoS on them, with the timers set to send off signals three minutes before broadcast time. How's your DDoS going, Damian? And Dante's anti-pheromone agent?

**mercutian** Yeah, I'm ready to go. My DDoS will start sending five minutes before broadcast to get it warmed up. Dante supposedly has some of the hormone tanks bugged and some of them filled with his receptor solution. Couldn't take them all out, it'd be suspicious.

**nano** I understand. Well. Go time in ten. Best of luck, Damian.

**mercutian** And luck to you as well, Nano. We can do this.

**nano** See you on the other side.

Matthew bit at his lower lip, subconsciously flipping wavy blond strands of hair out of his face. He fidgeted with the time in his hand. His screen was currently set to show various gages that would monitor both the pheromone gas levels and the receptor gas levels at the Mendax Center as well as ELF intensity readers at all six of the main broadcast stations. Matthew had hacked their readers earlier that morning.

Alfred sat at the opposite wall, his own screen displaying the controls for the hormone tanks and a smaller version of the hormone monitor gauges. He swung his timer around and grit his teeth nervously.

Time was ticking. Neither brother even acknowledged the other, despite being only a few feet away from each other. The tension in the room could be cut with a plastic knife. The sound of Matthew's anxious breaths filled the silence in the room, as Alfred's quieter spurts of breath blended underneath.

Matthew let out a long breath he had been holding when his first DDoS went off. Alfred glanced out of the corner of his eye, watching as Matthew began to type in a few commands to break some walls in the Mendax Center's firewall. Matthew's screen began to pop up new windows of code and various yes/no windows, to which he responded with lightning fast reactions. He knew what he was doing. The first signal would require some walls to be broken and a system to confuse, but nothing Matthew Jones wasn't able to handle.

Alfred snapped back to his own screen as a light began to blink in the corner. The hormone tanks were finished connecting to the ventilation system. Alfred double checked that the pheromones would be released at the same time and place as his receptors. The second light began to blink to signal a ready. Alfred watched intently, no longer preoccupied with his brother's actions in the operation. He could manage himself and so could Alfred.

Matthew bit down hard on his lip, almost drawing blood, when the ELF readers began to rise after the broadcast began. Come on... Nano should have started his own DDoS by then. The wall had been broken down about a minute before the broadcast. What could be obstructing it? Matthew began to fidget anxiously. The gauges were almost at a quarter full. If they made it past half, the operation was lost.

Alfred, on the other hand, smiled joyously. The first few seconds, the pheromone levels were ridiculously high, but soon, before they would be able to make contact with the attendees, the levels quickly declined. His receptors did their job well. Alfred smiled proudly. His side of the operation seemed to go swimmingly. Half the pheromone tanks had been emptied along with a third of the receptor tanks. The rest were the bugged, empty tanks. The hormone gauge began to slowly calm down to the point of near zero. Success.

"Matt, how's it going with the ELFs?"

"Horrid. The broadcast stations have ELF readings at a quarter of the gage. At half we've lost it."

"Shit. Here, let me help," Alfred started up a DDoS on his own computer before rolling over to Matthew's side to fidget with the buttons and windows. Alfred changed Matthew's DDoS methods for another before going back to check up on his.

"Alfred, it's still- holy shit wait they're going down!"

Alfred and Matthew watched as the gages began to decline at a rapid pace, stopping just above the zero point.

"Nano is a fucking genius," Matthew chuckled, shaking his head. Alfred got up and walked to the corner, turning on a television set that they barely ever used. To their excitement, each and every channel was replaced with static.

"Success?" Matthew grinned at the screen then at his brother. Alfred, however, shook his head with a sadder smile.

"Nope, we gotta wait this through for a few hours. Wait for the M-Center to run out of reserved ELF power and for the pheromone tanks to empty out completely. These types of ELFs take a lot of electrical screwing around, so they're out to run out at some point. Just keep an eye on the gages."

Matthew nodded, his face businesslike once again. He returned to his seat and watched the squirming arrows in the virtual gages. But he was still quite content. If this went through, the boys could fully trust Nano to be on their side.

Alfred left the room for a moment. Matthew didn't think much of it. The younger brother sat back in his chair, watching the various monitors before him. The false warmth of a monitor's LCD lights with the contrasting harsh cold of metal calmed Matthew. He could never explain why, but despite the fate of millions of people and maybe indirectly, the world and its entirety, resting gently in the palm of his hand, Matthew felt at ease at his place in front of his machines.

Alfred returned shortly with a bowl of freshly microwaved popcorn and a couple cans of pop. Alfred smiled softly when he saw Matthew, lax in his chair. The soft blue glow washing over the boy's features, a contrast with the boy's pale skin. Matthew looked almost sickly. Alfred wished that he could prescribe the boy more sun, but he knew it was futile. Matthew was a vampire. He needed to be shielded from the sun, locked in a dark room with computers.

But what distracted Alfred for the split second was the way the glow highlighted the dip of Matthew's nose, the curve of his cheek, the fullness of his lips. His soft, light gold hair fell in subtle waves, framing his face. Matthew possessed a strange beauty that could only ever work for him.

Alfred quickly shook the thoughts from his head. He kicked his own rolling chair towards Matthew's station, setting the popcorn down in Matthew's lap and the pops on the desktop. Matthew nodded his thanks before popping a few pieces into his mouth. Alfred's pop hissed when he pulled the tab. The two watched the displays wordlessly.

**01101000011000010110001101101011_**

**nano** Damian? Are you there? I think it's safe to stop the DDoS now. It's been five hours. The reveal has long since ended and the ELFs have probably died out by now.

**tybaltian** yeh damian can stop them now. i'll tell him.

**nano** Wait, are you and Damian in the same room?

**tybaltian** Er, no, I just had a call set up between us because Damian can't use chat because of the DDoS, you know? So uh yeah.

**nano** Ah, alright, well I think we can consider this operation a success.

**tybaltian** Yes, yes we definitely can! Thank you so much, Nano, you've really proved yourself to us. I'm sure Damian will agree that we can trust you with our lives, now.

**nano** Well, I'm glad. I hope you both know that that feeling is mutual.

**tybaltian** Of course, of course. Well, see you on the forums. We're going to investigate the aftermath, now.

**nano** Alright, goodbye!

_**-USER:TYBALTIAN EXITED CHAT-**_  
_**-USER:NANO CLOSED CHAT-**_

"Alfred, you fucking dumbass!" Matthew punched his brother on the arm.

"Hey! Mattie, calm down. He took your cover!" Alfred raised his arm in defense, flinching at his brother's warning fist. Matthew withdrew his hand and pouted.

"Al, we might be able to trust Nano now, but we still have to be careful about our identities."

"Well I'm sorry, I'll be more careful. But you didn't have to punch me. Or shove out of my chair. You could have typed just fine over my shoulder. But no, we have to get dramatic and push people. Alright, Matt, you frikin hot head."

"Whatever. You're just sensitive. Let's switch that TV on and see what the news is saying."

Matthew walked over to the television, shoving Alfred slightly with his shoulder on the way, and then switching the box on. He picked up a helmet sitting beside the screen, putting it on his head before tossing a similar one to Alfred.

"They probably have some type of ELF running with the news. Probably not as strong as what they had planned for the release, but might as well be safe than sorry," Mattew explained. Alfred simply nodded in response.

_"Breaking news! A server malfunction shut down The Mendax Company's communication devices by disconnecting internet services and transmission services. The malfunction occurred shortly after the broadcast of the much anticipated release of Mendax's Holovision Set. Mendax has told us that the downtime was a result of fried cables and wiring whose replacement had been forgotten. Mendax apologizes for any inconvenience and urges people to watch a recording of the Holovision release on their website. Everyone should be receiving a message on their wristbands with a link to the video._

_"In other news, the Mendax Center was facing some heating and ventilation issues this past week. Sources say it was because of malfunctions with the maintenance program, likely caused by the same wiring that brought down Mendax's servers._

_"I'm Mimi Joye Lists with TMC News. Now for politics with Kankri Vantas."_

Matthew switched off the television and put the helmet back down next to it. He smirked and shook his head, turning back to face Alfred.

"I can't believe they're blaming it on wiring," Matthew laughed. Alfred broke a smile and shook his head as well.

"Well, come on, let's write about this on the forum. Might as well tell everyone what really happened."

"Yeah, okay, but dude, I'm starving and way behind in school now," Matthew huffed

"Alright," Alfred rolled his eyes, "let's go out for a burger or something. Then I'll go find all of my old papers. You can start typing up whatever it is you want to tell the RATC, though."

Alfred held the door open for Matthew, who stepped through, squinting from the natural light from the sunset flooding through the windows. Alfred shut the door behind him and punched in a combination on a holographic keypad next to the door. He scanned his eye and his thumb before pushing Matthew towards the door to repeat the process. The door clicked and locked itself as the boys began to walk away in search of their shoes and coats.

**01101000011000010110001101101011_**

_**-USER:MERCUTIAN OPENED AN IMPORTANT_BULLETIN-**_

**mercutian** For a couple weeks, Dante, Nano, and I have known that Mendax Company organized a mass brainwash during the Holovision Release. They planned on filling the Mendax Center with pheromones as well as lace the broadcast with very strong ELFs. Both would have brainwashed every viewer, swaying their opinions on the war on Japan. As we know, Shinjitsu Company is the last technology company that stands as competition against Mendax. The Mendax Company has been known to despise Shinjitsu. With the war on Japan, the United States would be very likely to obliterate Japan this time, especially with newly developed nuclear and cyber warfares. With an obliteration of Japan would be the murder of millions of innocent people as well as the destruction of the only other opposers of The Company.

In response to the Mendax's brainwash operation, the three of us developed an operation that would counteract The Company's techniques. Dante worked on tricking their system into developing receptors to intercept the pheromones in air and overall bugging their pheromone storage tanks. Nano and I developed a plan that involved a multitude of classic DDoS attacks that brought down the broadcast.

Don't believe what the media is saying. We are the Resistance and we will fight against the malicious acts that Mendax attempts to inflict on us. We will never let them control us. As long as we exist, they can never fully take over the world. Even if the people of the world destroy themselves, let it be their own doing and not the doing of The Company's mind control. We will defend our own thoughts, our own opinions, until our dying breaths. We are the Resistance Against The Company and we will never let them win.

-Damian Prudentibus

_**-POST DENIED. MALWORD:MENDAX FOUND (6) TIMES. MALWORDS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR SECURITY REASONS AND TO PROTECT THE RATC FORUMS FROM DETECTION BY THE COMPANY. PLEASE EDIT TO READ AS [THE COMPANY] AND TRY POST AGAIN-**_


End file.
